Over the weekend, the North Korean dictator Kim Jong II's died of heart complications, and news reports out of Asia have confirmed that his son, Kim Jong Un has taken over control of the communist country. So why does it matter if a communist dictator in North Korea dies over the weekend? It's important because his son and successor, is thought to be only 27, and little is known about him. There is a great deal of uncertainty (lot of that going on these days) with respect to how the new dictator will act and deal with the global community which has already sanctioned the country for its continued work on its nuclear weapons programs. North Korea also commands one of the largest military's in the world with over 1.5 million soilders. The communist country has long been at odds with the western world, and many market watchers, especially in Asia are concerned about what could happen now that the leadership in the country has changed.
Because of all of this, the Asian markets were down substantially overnight, although the Japanese ETF that I own (EWJ - which is somewhat like a liquid mutual fund) is trading relatively flat on the day.
Other than that, the only economic numbers released this morning were by the NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) and showed a nice uptick in demand for new houses. The increase, which was 2.1%, was one of the largest seen in the past 3 years.
